Door operating and locking mechanism.



131,676- PATENTED JUNE 23, 1903.

G. GIBBS & H. PEARSON.

DOOR OPERATING AND LOOKING MECHANISM.

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UNITED STATES PATENT Patented June 23, 1903.

OFFICE.

GEORGE GIBBS, OENEW YORK, N. Y., AND HENRY PEARSON, OE SPRING- FIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, AssIe oRs T INTERBOROUGH RAPID TRAN- SIT O PANY, A OORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

f DOOR-- OPERATI G AND LOCKI-NGFMECHANISM.

sPEoIEIcArIoN formin am of Lama :Patent No. 7311676, dated 5...... 23, 1903.

Application filed October 2, 1902. Serial No. 125,694. (No model.)

To all whomit'may concern.-

Be it known thatwe, GEORGE GIBBS, a resident of New York; in the county and State of New York, and HENRY PEARSON, a resident 5 of Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, citizensof the United States, have invented certain newand useful Improvements inDoor Operating and Locking Mechanism, of which the following is a to specification.

Our inventioirrelates' to improvements in railway-cars, andpartioularly to improvements in the means for operating sliding doors at the sides of car-platforms.

We so arrangethe door-operating mechanism for the sliding doors in our cars that it engages the doors in approximately the horizontal plane through the line of suspension of each door, thusreducing to a minimum the tendency to til'tthe door during its to-and-fro movements, 1 thereby causing it to jam or pinch; Moreover, we arrange the door-operating mechanismin such a position or location that it occupies no useful space on the z 5 platform, being settled overhead and clear from all interference with the movements of passengers-or-with the moving parts of the car mechanism. Its location also obviates in-. terference with-the car-frame and other nee- 3o essary structural features of the car.

In connection .with the apparatus thus broadly described we provide devices for positivelylocking the sliding door in its closed position, so that no derangement of the mech- 5 anism or carelessness of the operator can leave the'door in a condition where it might i be accidentallyor otherwise opened by the assen 'er leanin a ainst it or from an 7 other 3 D 2: cause. if

1 4o Itis intendedthat the door-operating mechanism as s'uchshall be so constructed as to I constitute a sufficient look under ordinary conditions, but it is understood that without caref-uladjustment of the parts and in case of carelessnesson the'part of the operator the door-operating mechanismmightbe insufficient as a look for the sliding door. Accordinglywe prefer to-add a positive lock, entirely separate from the door-Operatin g mech 5o anism proper, and so locate it that the lock engages with the door directly and not through the medium of a system of cranks and-levers such as we prefer to employ for moving the sliding door itself. At the same time the locking devices are not permitted to interfere with the normal opening of the doors through the door-operating mechanism.

Our invention is illustrated in the aocom panying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device for operating the sliding doors. Fig-2 is a sectional view looking downward, showing the door-operating devices partly in plan and also illustrating the door-locking mechanism, the door being shown in its closed po- 6 5 Y sition. Fig. 3 is a similar view, the details of the door-locking mechanism being omitted for the sake of clearness. Fig. 4 is a View similar to Fig. 3, showing the door in its open position and the door-operating parts corre- 7o spondingly shifted. Fig-5 is a detail plan View of the door-locking mechanism, and Fig. 6 is an end elevation showing some of the details of our door-locking mechanism.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, 1 is the flooring 7.5

of a car-platform, the buffer end of which appears at 2. Through the middle of the car is a passage-way, which is closed by a door 6, suitably hinged to one of a pair of panels 8 8, the other of which serves as a panel with which the said door engages in its closed position. Anotherpositionforthe doorfiisillustrated by the dotted lines 9, where it engages with one of the front posts of the main carbody, and a third position for the door 6 is illustrated by the dotted lines at 11, where the door may be secured to a jamb 10, attached to one of the corner-posts 12 of the car-platform.. In its three described positions the door 6 respectively closes the passage-way at 0 the end of the car, provides a motormans compartment at one side of the platform, and protects the controller apparatus (not shown) at the forward end of the piatfonm The construction is fully set forth and claimed in our 9 5 Patent No. 722,097, issued March 3, 1903.

One of the sliding doors to which reference has been made is shown at one side of the platform at 15. The Operating-lever for this door is shown at 16 as a handle applied to a mo mechanism for each door engages the door in rocking shaft 17, mounted in suitable brackets or supports 18 18. To the rocking shaft 17 is secured a lever 19, the latter being connected by a swivel connection 20 with a lever 21. The last-named lever is suitably joined to an angular lever 22, working on a pivot 23, secured to the under side of the platform roof or hood 24. A link 25 joins the remote end of the angular lever 22 to alever 26. The latter lever is connected at one end to a bracket 27,attached to the door 15. The same lever 26 has a longitudinal slot 28 near its Opposite end, which permits the said lever to reciprocate upon the shank of a pin 2.), secured to the under side of the hood 24. By means of the system of levers thus described the door 15 may be made to occupy the closed position illustrated in Fig. 2. the open position illustrated in Fig.4, or any intermediate position.

To move the door from the closed to the opened position, the operator on the car-platform has only to pull the lever 16 downward and again upward from the position shown in Fig. 2 to that shown in Fig. 4. A reversal of this movement will close the door.

It will be understood that the described apparatus is duplicated at the opposite side of the platform and that every car-platform is similarly provided with a duplicate set of sliding doors and devices for operating them.

The doors 15 slide back into the car, suitable spaces being provided for that purpose, as shown.

In case two or m ore cars are coupled together to form a train, a single operator, standing 011 one of the car-platforms of abutting cars, can operate without difficulty the four sliding side doors of the two adjacent platforms.

Sliding doors are generally suspended near the top, and the best way to operate doors of this sort is by applying the operating force along a line approximately parallel to and in ahorizontal plane with the line of suspension.

It will be noted that the door-operating approximately the horizontal plane through the line of suspension of the door in question, and that the travel of the arm which engages the door is or may be in a direct line with the slide of the door itself, whereby all jamming or pinching of the door in its travel is avoided. Moreover, the door-operating mechanism is so placed or located with respect to the car, the side passage-ways, and all moving parts of the car mechanism that its operation does not interfere in any way with the structural arrangements of the car, the operation of its moving parts, or the convenience of the passengers.

We now come to the mechanism by means of which the sliding door 15 may be positively locked in its closed position, thereby preventing danger or accident through the unintentional or accidental opening of the door or its opening from any cause other than the manipulation of the controlling-lever 16 by an authorized person. In carrying out this part of our invention we provide a notched catch 40 and secure it permanently to the upper outer corner of the do0r,as shown. The catch 40 is provided with a notch 41, constituting the engaging portion of the catch. Oooperatin g with the catch is a bolt 39, placed in acast: ing 42 and provided with a suitable spring 43 for causing the bolt to engage positively with the spring-catch 40 when the spring is free to act upon the bolt. The casting 42 is bolted, as shown, to the upper part of the corner-post 12. In the act of closing the door the end of the notch 41 strikes the end of the spring-bolt 39, (which end is beveled, as shown,) and by pressing the latter backward or outward permits the spring-bolt to snap over the notched end. The door may then be pushed still farther inward, since the corner-post 12 is provided for this purpose with a slot 50 for receiving the inner end of catch 40. The distance to which the door can be pushed inward after the engagement of the locking devices mentioned may be made as great or as small as desired, and in any case the described arran gement serves as a protection to passengers, provided only that the space left open after the initial engagement of the locking de vices is less than that through which a passenger might accidentally step or fall.

The latch or spring-bolt 39 is capable of operation through the medium of an attachment 38 to a rod 35, which rod terminates at its opposite end in a small crank 37, set in a casting 51, bolted or secured in position at a point at or near the center post of the car-platform. The crank 37 is attached to a horizontal shaft 36, which ends on the outside of the platformpost in another crank 34, which has no attachment to any other portion of the mechanism. The operating-lever 16 is provided with a latch-rod 31, sliding through housings 30 and 44 alongside the lever 16. At the handle end of this lever the ordinary spring end piece 32 is attached, which on being pressed inward toward the handle of the operating lever pushes the latch rod 31 upward. When pushed upward, the end 33 of this rod passes by the end of the crank 34 in such a position as to operate the same. If, then, the operating-lever 16 be moved in the direction of the arrow in Fig. '5 while the spring end piece 32 is pressed inward, the end 33 of the latch-rod 31 will rotate the crank 34 sufficiently to move the rod 35 outward and disengage the latch 39, so that a front movement of the lever 16 will operate to open the door. On the other hand, when the door is being closed the handle of the lever 16 will be grasped in such a way as not to press inward the spring end piece 32, but the inward movement of the door combined with the beveled construction of the notch 41 and the latch 39 will suffice to permit the complete closing of the door.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the door 15 is positively locked while in the closed position and that the doorcan only be opened IIO by having all the parts of the door-operating mechanism and the door-locking mechanism in proper relative position. Accordingly, the safety of the door will be unaffected by any false adjustment or lack of adjustment in the main operating mechanism.

While the system of levers described as the mechanism for operating the sliding door might in itself constitute a sufli'cient lock for the door, yet we prefer to provide a positive look, as described.

While we have shown and described a special system of angular levers for operating the a suspended sliding door at one side thereof,

operating mechanism for the said door engaging the same in approximately the plane of its line of suspension, said operating mechanism consisting of a horizontal lever attached to i the roof or hood of the platform so as to have limited longitudinal and free pivotal movement, a series of angular levers connected at one extremity to the said horizontal lever and at the other extremity to a suitable rocking shaft, and an operating-lever located at the outer end of the car-platform and connected to the said rocking shaft.

2. In a street or railway car, a car-platform, a sliding door at one side thereof, operating mechanism for the said door, and an operating-lever for said mechanism, in combination with a catch on said door, and a locking mechanism adapted to engage the catch, a releasing device for the said locking mechanism, and means for throwing the said releasing device into the control of the said operating-lever at will.

3. In a railway-car, a car-platform, a suspended sliding door at each side thereof, a catch attached to each door, in combination with locking devices adapted to engage the said catch before the door is fully closed- Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 26th day of September, A. D. 1902.

GEORGE GIBBS. HENRY PEAR-SON. 

